A Little Behind...

I know I know; so I haven't been keeping up with my post. Well here's where that ends. So seeing as how I missed out on getting to teach out in the more rural part of the Czech, I can't imagine what else I'll have to write about. Hmmm... well this weekend we went to Cesky Krumlov, which proved to be much more enthralling than I originally expected. Cesky Krumlov is a smaller town south of Prague, that shows much more of the natural beauty of the Czech Republic that you don't get to see in the city. And now I consider myself a semi-city boy, but getting out of the fast pace of the Prague definitely gave me a refreshment that I didn't know I needed. See, when I first got to Prague, I had done my research, but actually getting here and seeing the city definitely overloaded my sensory memory, and the bottleneck was feeling a little too crammed to really process much. Getting away to Cesky really helped me take a break from that first feeling, which I eventually overcame after a few days, but lingered for the rest of the trip. I feel more engaged with Prague now that I've gotten away from it for a bit, and just taken a step back to appreciate the Czech Republic as a whole, as opposed to it just being "where Prague is." You really get a sense of the unity of the Czech tradition that spans the entirety of the country, that tradition being its artistic style, its food, and its way of life. And having taken a step back, and after having learned a thing or two about sensory memory and the bottleneck, this week I am much more conscious of where I am placing my attention, not letting myself become overwhelmed by all that Prague has to offer, but instead placing my attention on pieces of it at a time. Whether it be going to the Opera, the Cubist Museum, the Metronome, a new restaurant (or the same one six times), I'm becoming a more active constructor Prague as a schema, being conscious of the bottleneck., and becoming more conscious and engaged in the context they call Prague. And it's working so far. So thanks John! I think you taught someone something...